Stölzle-Union glass factory, Czech Republic

Entirely rebuilt after a devastating fire in 2009, it is today reputed to be one of the best production sites for pharmaceutical packaging glass in Europe.  It also runs a regenerative furnace remarkable for its very low energy consumption and optimized nitrous oxide emissions.The manufacturing process generates extremely high levels of heat and it takes a particularly robust ventilation system to provide a comfortable environment for the people working in the factory.When Stölzle-Union found that the system they initially installed couldn’t do it, they called on Colt. They felt confident that we would have the solution, as Colt had already installed a cooling system at Stölzle’s glassworks in Austria.

When Colt team carried out a survey, they immediately saw that the existing system would not be able to provide efficient ventilation, even with modifications to improve its performance. They designed a solution using Labyrinth ventilators built into the roof to release the hot air produced by the manufacturing process. In addition, they suggested fitting the Labyrinth ventilators with attenuators to reduce the noise escaping from the facility, as the factory is very close to a residential area.

The factory produces 120 tons of amber glass a day – if you want to picture what this means, it corresponds to 700 million glass containers for pharmaceuticals a year! To keep up with such a busy production schedule, it was important that the installation of the ventilation system do not disrupt the factory’s manufacturing activity. This was not a problem for Colt, as we are used to work around our customers’ work schedule, and our team completed the installation with no interruption to production, to Stölzle-Union’s delight.